Portable track



J. C. BRIAN.

PORTABLE TRACK. APPLICATION man 050.13. 1921.

1,4 1 0,05 5 Patented Mar. 21, 1922.

nwmro/r. WITNESSES J. C. 5111 an,

A TTORNE Y8 UNITED s'rAras PATENT OFFICE.

muse. BRIAN, or MINNEABOIQIS, MINNESOTA.

PORTABLE TRACK.

To all whomidt may concern.

Be it knownthatl, JAMEsG. BRIAN, a citizen of thexUnited-zstates, and aresident of Minneapolisin the county ofHennepin and State of Minnesota,have invented certain new :and useful Improvements in Portable Tracks,ofuwhi'eh :the following is a specification; The- -presentinvention:relates to an improvement in portable-tracks for'usetwithvehicles, such as automobiles,-.motor.trucks or dislikes One; ofthe':principle objects of the invention is to provide, a portabletrack (of:this character which is adapted foruse in- -extri+eatingautomobiles-motor vehicles or 511m ilar machines from a mud hole,snowbank or'the like, and which utilizes the power of 7 the vehicle5inorderto property position .the

portable trackbeneath the-- wheel thereby obviating the necessity ofexcavating around the-wheelin order to produce a track there under,and-which when disposed beneath the wheel is firinly anchored--'-thereunder and provides, for I requisite traction to enable theautomobile, moto'rtruck or the like to carry itself out of the mud holeor snow bank asthe case may be.-- f a Another object is. to provide adevice of thischaracter-which 'isofs'imple' and durable construction,reliable and efficient: in opera tion. and easy and comparativelyinexpensive to manufacture.

Other objects and advantages of the invention reside in certain novelfeatures of construction, combination and arrangement of parts whichwill be hereinafter more fully described and particularly pointed out inthe appended claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawingsforming part of this specification, and in which:

Figure l is a view in elevation, illustrating the preferred embodimentof the invention in use; i Figure 2 is a fragmentary plan view of theinvention; and

Figure 3 is a s'milar view in side elevation.

Referring to the drawings wherein for the sake of illustration is shownthe preferred embodiment of the invention, the letter P designates theportable track which constitutes the present invention and which, isadapted to cooperate with the driving wheel W of an automobile, motortruck or similar vehicle to provide the requisite tractlon for vSpecificationof Letters Patent. Patent d Di 21 1922 Application filedDecember 13,- 1921.

Serial N 0. 522,095. I

the driving wheel-and enable'it to carry the hole, snow ing tractionlugs. 12 which engage thewheel and constitute. "anti+slipp1n'gdevices-as between the wheel and this section of thetrack and pivotearsf12 formedfronr the blank of metaleintermediate. the lugs- 12 andarranged centrally of the link. Connecting links .13 coact. withthepivot ears 12 of the traction links 12 to pivotally connect/thesetraction links: to each othe1z The connectingiilinks 13 are eachconstructedof'a single piece ofresi lient-wire andthere is one such link:13 between-adjacent traction As shown in Figure 3, the pivot cars '12,as well as the lugs--12 are upturned or-upstand 'from'the body portion12 of the traction link-and in thismanne-r the connecting links 13 arearranged above the smooth bottom of the traction'links and below the.top of the anti-slipping lugs or traction lu-gslQ". At

thefree end-of the section 10a claw link 14;

is'provided and iscohnected to the traction links of the section by oneof the connecting links 13 after the same manner in which the otherlinks of the chain are conected to each other. At the free end of thelink instead of having the traction lugs and the pivot ears a pluralityof upstanding teeth or claws, designated at 14 are provided and areadapted to coact with the wheel in a manner to be hereinafter more fullydescribed.

The section 11 of the track is connected with the section 10 by means ofan intermediate traction link 15 which is constructed slightly differentfrom either the traction links 12 or the traction links of the section11 to be presently described. This intermediate link 15 includes a bodyportion 15 and traction lug 15" and a pivot car 15 of constructionidentical with the corresponding elements of any of the traction links12, and the bearing or pivot ear 15 coacts with one of the connectinglinks 13. This intermediate link 15 also includes a pair of pivot ears15 between which another traction lug 15' is arranged.

The section 11 comprises a plurality of single piece of sheet metal andeach includes a body 16 having pairs of pivot ears 1.6

formed therefrom and provided with a de-..

pending and ground engaging spur 16and an upstandin anti'slippin 16. Theen link 16 pre. erably has only one pair of pivot ears 16 (see Figure 1the metal atthe opposite end being flattened out, as at 16. i i

In using the track for extricating automobiles, motor vehicles or thelike from the mud hole or snow bank, the claw link l l has its teeth orclaws 14: engaged with the wheel W and the track itself is alined withthe wheel. Then when the wheel is turned or driven backwardl theengagement thereof with the claw ink operates to carry the section 10completely around under the wheel and to bring the section 11 beneaththe wheel. The traction links 12 of the section 10 slide freely aroundunder the wheel since their bottom surfaces are formed smooth. and asthe connecting links 13 are arranged above these bottom surfaces theyalso do not offer an resistance to this movement. The lugs 12 howeveriof'theflinks operate as anti-slipping or friction devices as between thesection 10 of thetrack and'the automobile wheel. i As the section 11ofthe track comes beneath the wheel and; a the wei ht of the vehicleoperates on the link 16 or tractionv lug 5 track and out of the muds1nooth bottoms engageable with the ground and connecting links betweensaid traction links, and a section comprising traction links hav1ngspurs engageable" with the ground and connect-ing links between saidlast mentioned traction links.

2. A portable track for vehicles including a section comprising linkshaving substantiallysmootli bottomsi andasection com prising linkshavingspurs engageableuwith the ground. 1 a 3. A portable track for vehiclesincluding a claw link cooperablefwith the wheel for carrying the trackbeneath the same-and traction links having; spurs Iengageable with theground to anchor the: portable track beneaththe'wheel. a i; j

4. A portable track for vehiclesincluding a sectioncomprisingtractionlinks having smooth bottomsand provided withantislipping means engageable withthe; Wheel, connecting links betweensaidtractionilinks anda clawlink at the end; of said section,

and a section comprisingtraction links havpairs ofconnectinglinksbetween said last mentionedtractionlinks;

5i A portable track for vehicles ,consisting of a plurality of tractionlinks constructed of sheet metaltand connecting links between thetraction links constructed of wire r and .pivotallyconneotedQtothe-traction links.

6.1 A portable track in cluding traction links constructed of sheetmetal having a body portion upstanding traction lugs and pivot ears andconnecting: links cooperating v withthe pivot ears 1

